WTF is this awesome delay unit Neko Case has?!?

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:37 pm

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjnS_RTj_o

About 5:50 in, there's a quick shot of this crazy-assed delay thingy, then the lovely Ms. Case briefly discusses wiggling the arm while it's running to get a crazy wobbel out of it, and there's a very short snippet of this...what kind of delay is this? it almost sort of resembles a Tel-Ray oilcan unit, but not...and I thought I'd seen it all. Weird...

Really looking forward to Middle Cyclone. Been listening to stripped-down versions of some of the songs from kexp the last week or so, and I hafta say, they're some of Neko's best...and I'm totally envious of her Piano Barn!

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:22 pm

it looks like an improvised tape echo, really.

i see tape (or wire?) and at least 2 heads.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:10 pm

hmmm...might be onto something with the mention of wire...that thing does look wire recorder-y. In any case,it sounds pretty damn spooky and fun.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:58 pm

j_howell wrote:hmmm...might be onto something with the mention of wire...that thing does look wire recorder-y. In any case,it sounds pretty damn spooky and fun.

yah, there's something about the look of that machine that screams "Truman-era military surplus".

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:02 am

I can't believe that one can watch that EPK for the new record and simply talk about the delay. Jesus Christ this record is going to be amazing. Garth Hudson is on the record as well as the pianos and frogs.

Jeff

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:40 am

uhm...yeah. Second paragraph of first post? Of course it's gonna be amazing- it's Neko, and the just-her-Paul-and-Kelly-acoustic versions I've heard were just...I don't even know how to put it. Neko's way with words and melody just cut to the bone, in the most beautiful way...example from "Middle Cyclone": "can't scrape up enough/to ride the bus/ to the outskirts of the fact that I need love..." Yes.

That said, that delay is freaky cool, and this is th eplace where we yap about the odd and cool things like this...

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:57 am

*wurblewurblewurble*

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:34 am

j_howell, I agree, just was really inspired after seeing that EPK and the fact that the delay was in the picture for like 15 secs just struck me as funny. It was cool, though.

Counting down the days until March 3rd.

I sent that EPK to a bunch of people last night. Thanks for posting it.

And planting a tree to grow through an old piano is just such a beautiful image.

Jeff

comfortstarr · Post by **comfortstarr** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:37 am

FYI: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magaz ... f=magazine

Not about the delay, but a general article about her and the new record.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:00 am

Yeah, looks like an old wire recorder to me too.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:12 am

ipressrecord,
Sorry- I didn't intend that to be/sound snarky at all. I'm super-excited too! If you haven't heard it, the kexp thingy she did a couple of weeks or so ago is up over at captainsdead.com, a couple of pages back from the most recent one. It's pretty great!

Neko never ceases to amaze me...she manages to retain all of the (for lack of a better word) traditional aspects of what she does enough that I still enjoy her work in that way, while simultaneously really pushing it forward with respect to structure, sounds, etc. Brilliant!

All that said, like Ms. Case, I'm all about (to the point of mild obsession) manipulating old stuff for new sounds, especially anything that's more mechanical in function than purely electronic...so needless to say, that crazy delay particularly piqued my curiosity. That sorta thing is right up my alley. Can't wait to hear the choir of grumpy old pianos as well...

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:14 am

Also, only semi-relatedly, I just now finally put the two and two together and realized that the Sook-Yin Lee who wrote "Knock Loud" from Canadian Amp is the same lady that was the sort-of main character in the movie Shortbus. Crazy. That song is...that's some good writing, for real.

Post by **TapeOpLarry** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:39 pm

I just gotta say she's a cool lady and a real pleasure to hang with. And her records are really freaking good. [/i]

mnorvig · Post by **mnorvig** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:54 pm

Looks to me like an Echo-fonic tape delay (not to be confused with Ray Butts' Echo-Sonic). Look at the bottom of this page:
http://www.dekedickerson.com/gear.php

One sold on on ebay a few weeks ago for $315
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-EccoFonic-t ... dZViewItem

Thanks for the link to the video -- very nice.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:06 pm

Yep. That's it! Thanks!

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WTF is this awesome delay unit Neko Case has?!?

WTF is this awesome delay unit Neko Case has?!?

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